It is often said that stories and events of present generation will constitute the history of future generations. The stories and political struggles of our parent’s generation in the 60’s and 70’s now constitute the history of the armed struggle, which brought about the birth of Zimbabwe. It therefore is our responsibility in the era of globalization where many people find themselves living in foreign lands to try and preserve our family histories and culinary traditions we grew up with for our future generations. Just as most African history as we know it was written by white men from the West, the modern history and traditions of Africa are at risk from suffering the same fate if the present generation of African people do not rise to the challenge and take the responsibility for documenting and writing their own history. This is not a political blog, but is more an attempt to document our own Zimbabwean culinary traditions which albeit are very different from say the French as anyone who has ever read Larousse Gastronomique will testify have a rich and varied archive of regional recipes and seasonal ingredients documented in the book, which lists an extensive, range of ingredients, techniques and recipes that make up French cuisine. A perusal of Zimbabwean recipes on Google brings up books such as Diet and tradition in an African culture, Culture and Customs of Zimbabwe and A Taste of Africa of which none are written by a Zimbabwean. In a book entitled The World Cookbook for Students, Volume 1 the section on Zimbabwe after giving a brief description of the country lists typical dishes as Sadza and stews of meat and vegetables. Under a section entitled Style of eating it has this to say

 “Families eat together on a mat on the floor, surrounding the communal dish placed in the center. Some families have individual plates and spoons. European families eat European style. Only the right hand is used to eat with. Each diner takes off a piece of the stiff cornmeal paste and shapes it in the same palm and fingers into a ball. An indentation is made in the ball with the right thumb. The ball of paste is dipped in the sauce and brought to the mouth.”

The passage above while it might have been relevant at some point does not mirror my experiences or of any of my friends. We can only have ourselves to blame as Zimbabweans if we let this kind of patronizing and misinformation take precedence. My hope is that by writing this blog, I shall begin a process of documenting our rich and varied culinary traditions.